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Nomination of Mukasey Sent to Full Senate

Senators Dianne Feinstein, Russell D. Feingold and Charles E. Schumer after the vote on Tuesday.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — The Senate Judiciary Committee this morning endorsed the nomination of Michael B. Mukasey to be attorney general, virtually assuring his confirmation by the full Senate.

The vote was 11 to 8, with two Democrats, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, joining all nine Republicans on the panel in backing the nominee.

The close vote in Mr. Mukasey’s favor, with 8 of 10 Democrats voting against Mr. Mukasey, had been expected, given public statements by committee members leading up to today’s meeting. Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, had been the one Democrat not to announce his decision before today, and he voted “no.”

Mr. Kohl said he was troubled by the nominee’s statements on the interrogation technique known as “waterboarding,” or simulated drowning. “As Judge Mukasey’s answers mirror the president’s on this issue, and defy common sense, we are forced to question his independence as well,” Mr. Kohl said. “The attorney general’s loyalties must be to the Constitution, to the American people, and to the law. Too much doubt on this point is disqualifying.”

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the committee, had announced his opposition several days ago. “Some have sought to find comfort in Judge Mukasey’s personal assurance that he would enforce a future, a new law against waterboarding if this Congress were to pass one,” Mr. Leahy said today. “Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of the president.”

“Now, I wish I could support Judge Mukasey’s nomination,” Mr. Leahy said at another point. “I like Michael Mukasey. We have many things in common in our past careers. I certainly don’t question his intellectual ability or his independence.” But Mr. Leahy said the Justice Department needs “an attorney general who believes and understands that there have to be limitations on executive power.”

Before he voted “no,” Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said, “We need a leader who will inspire confidence in the rule of law. We need a leader who is unafraid to speak truth to power. We need a leader who is worthy of the trust we place in our attorney general to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Michael Mukasey, regrettably, is not that leader.”

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Michael B. MukaseyCredit
Susan Etheridge for The New York Times

The committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said he too had been dissatisfied with some of Mr. Mukasey’s responses to questions about torture and the limits on presidential power and that he looked forward to more Congressional deliberations on those issues. “But all factors considered, I think that the balance is decisively in favor of confirming Judge Mukasey,” Mr. Specter said.

Mr. Mukasey’s endorsement by the committee, though close, seems to guarantee his confirmation by the full Senate, perhaps before the end of the week. In fact, vote-counters in both parties have predicted that he will be confirmed easily.

But his supporters will not include Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, who announced this afternoon that he would vote against the nominee. “If he is confirmed, I believe he will take steps to depoliticize the Department of Justice and to help restore the integrity and credibility that was so lacking under his predecessor,” the Nevada Democrat said. “However, given our recent history, it is of crucial importance that our next attorney general be able to stand up to the president and for the rule of law. Because I am not confident that Judge Mukasey will, I will oppose his nomination.”

And all four Democrat senators who are running for president have said they will vote against Mr. Mukasey. Besides Mr. Biden, they are Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Barack Obama of Illinois and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.

The chief White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, thanked the committee for voting to forward the nomination, and said that Mr. Mukasey “has clearly demonstrated that he will be an exceptional attorney general at this critical time.”

Republicans on the Judiciary Committee praised Mr. Mukasey, a former federal judge in New York City, as eminently qualified to head the Justice Department. Senators Schumer and Feinstein were more restrained in their praise, acknowledging the nominee’s qualifications and declaring that the best qualification is that Mr. Mukasey is not Alberto R. Gonzales, the former attorney general.

Mr. Gonzales was widely criticized by many Democrats, and some Republicans, for the firing of several United States attorneys last year. Mr. Gonzales’s critics accused him repeatedly of acting too much like an in-house lawyer for the president rather than an independent head of a vital Cabinet department.

The other committee Democrats who voted against the nominee were Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

The other Republicans on the panel are Senators Sam Brownback of Kansas, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, John Cornyn of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Jeff Sessions of Alabama.